'Al Qaeda recruitment akin to taking job in big enterprise'

New recruits to the terror grouping Al Qaeda filled up a form that was very similar to a job application for any large business enterprise, documents found four years ago in the lair of Osama bin Laden -- once the worlds's most wanted militant -- reveal, according to documents declassified by the US intelligence department.

The job application quizzed hopeful jihadists on their career history, foreign language skills and requested emergency contact numbers should they take part in a suicide mission.

The application form, framed in a humdrum nature with its bureaucratic questions, was one of hundreds of pieces of information released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Wednesday.

The form, translated by the CIA from Arabic to English, begins: "Please enter the required information accurately and truthfully. Write clearly and legibly. Name, age, marital status. Do you wish to execute a suicide operation?"

The employment fill-out form was among 103 items of now-declassified material written by bin Laden, allowing an insight into his final years as the law closed in on the 9/11 mastermind.

Potential recruits were allowed to fill in the form in another language, if they did not speak Arabic.

In perfectly tedious wording of a human resource department, applicants were to "refrain from sharing the information you provide on the application with each other" and "if you would like to discuss any further issue, please tell your direct brother supervisor".

Al Qaeda requested a full family history from those eager to sign-up for jihad including names of father and grandfather, father's occupation, number of family members along with any nicknames or aliases.

The recruiters also wanted to know about past employers, criminal record and any former association with organisations away from the terrorist network.

The recruiters were also interested in knowing if the applicant knew anyone who travelled to Western countries or had family members in the government who may be willing to help.

And in what also appeared to be important to the militants, potential recruits were asked about their hobbies and pastimes along with favourite Muslim dignitaries and sheikhs and whether they preferred science or literature.

The document was among intelligence material seized by US SEALS on May 2, 2011 after they stormed bin Laden's hideout in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad and shot him dead.

The September 11, 2001 attacks in the US, also known as the 9/11 attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people and caused about $10 billion worth of property damage were allegedly mentored by Osama bin Laden.

The US officials asserted that the attacks were carried out by Al Qaeda terrorists but many experts have raised questions about the official account.

They believe that rogue elements within the US government orchestrated or at least encouraged the 9/11 attacks in order to accelerate the US war machine and advance the Zionist agenda.

Washington announced on May 2, 2011 that bin Laden was killed in his residence compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, by US special forces and CIA operatives.